Category: Inspiration

Lion, and Tin Man, and Scarecrow, Oh My!

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her – is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? ~Wicked

Thank goodness for today! What a wonderful day spent with family. As our national celebration of the Day of Giving Gratitution is winding down, I only have a few clock ticks left to share what’s been on my mind. So, this will be unpolished and without a pretty pink bow atop adjusted just so. And there most definishly won’t be enough time to apply any glitter for that extra shimmer. It’s just me typing my thoughts on my technological pocket clock…

As I like to put a timestamp on my thoughts, my fellow Ozians and I are in our Wicked movie release era. Lion, and Tin Man, and Scarecrow, oh my! Ballyhoo, butterflies, and bubbles galore! I’m obsessulated. Some of us switched gears from orange glitter in October, to pink going good with green in November. From Showgirl to Girl in the Bubble. It’s been a truly festivating fall! Don’t mind me just singing and dancing through life over here…

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Unbecoming

You cannot grow because you have decided you have stopped growing. You haven’t grown in ages and you’ve lost the knack. ‘Twas a time you used to believe six impossible things before breakfast if I’m not mistaken. ~ The Hatter, Unbirthday 

What do Instagram, operas, tattoos, and Taylor Swift all have in common? The art of storytelling. I just finished reading a book called The Storytelling Animal. With topics like why the idea of story shapes our lives, how fictional stories promote pro-social behavior, and what our night time dreams are made of, I was captivated from spark to finish…

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Intersections

When the day becomes the night and the sky becomes the sea, when the clock strikes heavy and there’s no time for tea; and in our darkest hour, before my final rhyme, she will come back home to Wonderland and turn back the hands of time. ~ The Cheshire Cat

(BANG!) It was like a rollercoaster ride through a color run that came to an abrupt stop. No lights. No warning signs. Just a loud confusing sound of static and other engines passing by. Three minutes prior to this scene, I had been walking outside before setting sail down the Green River. I looked up high and noticed the Cheshire Cat with a silly smile on his half-hidden face in the night sky. Was that a glimmer in his eye or a wink? What was he trying to tell me? Go this way or go that way? Oh what to do, what to do…

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A Bite of Blood Moon Pie

Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines with my dead beat sky, but this town doesn’t look the same tonight. These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere, and in all my life I don’t know that I ever felt so alive. ~ Switchfoot, “Awakening”

Scene: Midnight ~ that paradoxical hour that divides our sense of time. (“Is it night or is it morning?” Hmm…both.) Happy Blood Moon and Pi Day! I feel like there’s been a lack of social awareness for this grand celestial event which happens to be in congruence with all math lovers’ favorite day of the year. Last year millions of people embarked on trips across the states to view the solar eclipse while sporting eclipse glasses and souvenir t-shirts and indulging in special eclipse-themed snacks. I think this lunar eclipse deserves equal attention. We all should have planned to collectively eat moon pies at 3:14 in the morning, while solving mathematical equations under the crescent of light that will be present during this eclipse. Instead, a few dedicated moon lovers will be turning their gaze and their cameras upward on this “once in a red moon” kind of night…

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No Place Like Home?

Brave, gotta call it brave to chase that dream across the sea. Names, then they signed their names for something they believed. Red, how the blood ran red; we laid our dead in sacred ground. Just think, wonder what they’d think if they could see us now. ~ Dierks Bentley

Click, click, click. I was walking through the magical land of Toys “R” Us with my parents one night when all of the sudden something glittery and red on a low shelf caught an eye behind my large pink glasses. It was a pair of slip-on heels with red bows across the toes. I reached for the sparkling ruby slippers which were just my size, bound up in Wizard of Oz packaging. I had never seen anything like them, and they may as well have been made of real rubies. In all actuality, they were plastic and designed for a little girl to dance and prance around in; not actually wear out anywhere, much to my chagrin. It was the first pair of shoes I remember buying, and I was tickled pink! This purchase by my seven year old self was made possible from an allowance after helping out with chores at home. Right then and there I became head over heels for red shoes, and the affinity remains. Isn’t it amazing how seemingly insignificant moments in childhood can have a lasting impact…

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Letter to Helen

To my great-grandma Helen ~ Mother of my grandma. Matriarch of the family. Lady of mystique.

Dear Helen ~ You don’t know me, but I’ve heard stories about you all my life. I’m your daughter Sheri’s oldest granddaughter. I wish I could have met you; you’re the missing person I’m often wondering about. The older I get, the more I think about you and your impact on our family, and how at age 36, I’m a year older than you were when you were gone way too soon from this life. I often wonder how different our lives would have been had you been here with us. I think your story in particular is why I feel emotions so deeply. Why I have always thought about life and death so seriously. Why I want to live life to the fullest amount of joy and passion possible. We aren’t guaranteed a long life on this earth: we only have this present moment…

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The Wound, the Wind, and the Wizard

“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” ~ Leo Tolstoy

I find myself drawn to both light and darkness, and by this dichotomy I am often perplexed. I guess it explains my fascination with the idea of shadows. And the moon. In cryptic prose, I often reflect on the topic of pain. Maybe if I finally chronicle this story, I’ll be able to let the pain of the past go…

The wizard ~ I was peering through the lens of apprehension as my eye appointment neared the shore of reality. Perhaps I was less than optimistic because instead of one, it had been two years since my last visit. But eight tests, four cornea specialists, and two hours later, everything appears to be fine. My eyes are “quiet” as the wizard says. Unbeknownst to him, that’s how I refer to my eye doctor. A world-renowned surgeon. A miracle worker. A man who once told me in his dry sense of humor, “I don’t have a crystal ball,” when he couldn’t conjure up a vision of my future eye health for my peace of mind…

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XERO to 360

“What you consistently do is what you adapt to…If we want to heal, we have to learn to process.” ~ Brianna Wiest, The Mountain is You

I’m pondering what direction I’ll take with this idea that’s come full circle in my mind. A progressive idea laced with movement, balance, and growth. I know it will revolve around forward motion, but that notion is not as uncomplicated as one might imagine. We are, after all, dealing with reality. Life is sometimes a “one step forward, two steps back” dance with fear, pain, and our inner selves. The darkness we try to hide from. I’m going to review part of my journey from this last rotation around the giant yellow star that’s glowing at the heart of our solar system. The topic being: Day 0 to Day 360 of walking ever so slightly closer to the ground. But first, a short stroll down memory lane…

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Peace, Epiphany, and the Present

“And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth goodwill to men…”

 “What do you want for Christmas?” It’s the question that starts circulating every Thanksgiving. Would it come across as derisive to ask for peace on earth? Listening to the news on any given day, all I should ask for is peace and an end to human suffering. Maybe it’s ridiculous to think of putting lofty idealistic notions on our Christmas lists and expecting anyone to actually do anything about it. Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic. Or maybe I just feel the need to be facetious right now, due to that Christmas exhaustion setting in. It’s the Eve of Christmas, and while I’m currently baking a cake which I’m totally jazzed about, I have a multitude of thoughts running through my mind. And so I shall put the proverbial pen to the paper whilst the aroma of spice fills the space in which I dwell.

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The World You Want

Raise your hand if you’re tired of misinformation hurting people.  Irrespective of each of our differences in political party, religion, or worldview, aren’t we all exasperated?  We all can get fired up because deep within us we want the truth.  The problem is we each think we have the truth, and we can easily point to the group whom we believe is responsible for the toxic ideas polluting our nation.  What is truth, and can it truly be known?  Or will everything we hear be questioned as possible fake news or conspiracy, causing us to live in fear and mistrust of information from now on?  Whatever is true, I want to believe that, but it’s difficult to know what or whom to trust anymore.  Everyone claiming to have “truth” promotes it with passionate conviction, yet with so many conflicting ideas out there, truth can seem elusive and relative. 

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